Assessments of children starting formal schooling - Essay Example

Assessments of children starting formal schooling Introduction There is evidence that teachers at key stage have tended to make little use of assessment information passed on by staff in preschool settings attended by the child (Blyth and Wallace 1988). This makes assessment of children near to the start of their infant schooling particularly important if teaching is to be appropriately matched to children’s learning needs. An OFSTED survey of urban schools found that, even after the introduction of the National Curriculum, children’s abilities were rarely assessed on school entry and little use was made of available information to plan teaching (OFSTED 2001). Brief description of issues being investigated This study will consider ways in which the teacher might identify appropriate starting points in teaching for children who are finding tasks difficult. Advice and information from other teachers and the child’s care-givers, in addition to careful observation of the child, can help to identify ‘where the child is’. This is particularly important for children starting compulsory schooling, as the diversity of pre-infant school provision means that the reception class is likely to include 5-year-olds with widely different experiences and expectations about school. Objectives Careful assessment through various forms of observation (not formal tests) of the point reached by a child (say 5-6 years old) in his or her learning, and teaching which builds on this knowledge are main objectives of current study. It is not being suggested that starting points for, say, 5-year-olds should be only in terms specifically and directly linked with National Curriculum attainment targets. Broader assessment based on observation is important for all children but particularly for any children thought to have difficulties in learning. Review of the literature Observation of children is a vital first step in planning how their learning can be fostered. Observation can take many forms, structured or unstructured, involving the teacher working with the child or remaining distanced. When and how teachers observe children will depend both on the aims of that observation and on what is realistic in a busy classrooom. While teachers recognise that watching how children are learning is an important part of teaching (and this is a particularly strong tradition in the early years of schooling), it requires careful planning to incorporate such activity into everyday classroom life. Teachers may make time for observing children by doing more collaborative teaching in which one teacher takes the main responsibility for two class groups while the other teacher observes or works closely with a small group. Similarly, other classroom adults can be utilised (for example, trainee teachers) so that a class teacher has observation time. A variety of occasions arising unexpectedly (for example, in the playground) may provide the opportunity for informal observational assessments. Adults, other than the teacher, might also carry out the observations if given clear and detailed training about how to do this. I have worked with nursery nurses in primary schools who, using structured observation schedules, have monitored the integration of children from special schools (discussed further later). Similar work is described in accounts of Sunnyside Primary School’s experiences of integration (Bell and Colbeck 1999). This type of work can generate valuable data about whether or not children with difficulties in learning are isolated in mainstream school classes and about the types of activities in which they are engaged. The following discussion considers various approaches to continuous teacher assessments of children’s development and learning, from relatively informal approaches to more formal and child-specific methods. Although they are of general relevance, they are particularly important in the planning of teaching and learning for children with difficulties for whom classroom work often seems to be mismatched. The diversity of educational experiences prior to key stage 1, and how the reception class teacher might build on these experiences, raises issues about ‘baseline’ assessment of children at the start of key stage 1 (Nuttall and Goldstein 1999, Thomas 2002). The term ‘baseline’ assessment has been used to refer to assessment near to the start of full-time compulsory schooling. It has misleading connotations of children coming into reception classes with minimal educational attainments, whereas a wide variety of research (for example, Tizard et al. 2002) has shown the richness of experiences and attainments which children have on starting formal schooling. It has been argued that including National Curriculum assessments on school entry provides a sound and sensible base from which to monitor children’s progress on the National Curriculum. This is important because of the diversity of children’s pre-school experiences. Those who are opposed to baseline assessments at age 5, in relation to the National Curriculum, maintain that this will label some children as ‘failures’ from their first days in school. It is also said that assessment results will eventually be linked in an undesirable way with teacher appraisal, reflecting a return to a covert payment-by-results system. More fundamentally, some of those who have argued against National Curriculum -linked assessment on school entry hold that this would be contrary to the basic principles of early childhood education (for example, Bruce 1997), which emphasise acceptance of children’s individuality and an avoidance of crude assessments of children’s abilities in terms of products of learning. Linked with these two last points is the argument that such young children cannot be assessed in these terms in ways which are valid and reliable. Stage 1, which is being investigated, is initiated by a teacher at the school, a parent or another professional, expressing concern about the child’s learning. This person should have some evidence to back up this expression of concern. The class teacher responds to this expression of concern by gathering relevant information, consulting the school’s coordinator for special educational needs, consulting the parents and taking action to prevent early signs of difficulties from escalating. Method In order to effectively assess the children of 5-6 years old and correctly define their level of readiness for further studies, the sequence of following steps should be anticipated: 1) Decide which children you want to observe and why. Let other staff know who these children are and when you will be observing them. You might decide to focus on a small number of children, observing each child in turn. 2) Prepare a sheet on which to record your observations. Draw horizontal lines to demarcate each one-minute time band. 3) Observe for several minutes before you start to make notes. 4) Observe each target child in turn for five minutes. 5) Write down: (a) What the child says (language); (b) With whom the child interacts (social); (c) What the child does (activity). 6) Afterwards, code each of the three sections. The codings will be specific to the context but might include: REQ (request); PS (personal statement), SOL (solitary); INA (interacting with adult); INC interacting with another child); TT (teaching a task to another child). 7) The results could then be put on to a graph or chart to show, for example, the proportion of time that the child(ren) is/are involved in solitary activities. 8) If possible, have two adults make observations simultaneously on the same child (ren). This will help to show whether or not the observations are reliable. 9) Consider the implications, for classroom practice, of what has been observed. 10) Consider repeating the observation exercise, with any necessary amendments to the original schedule. The interview 5 children will be chosen at random from each one of the classroom which serve for the purposes of the study. They will be asked to respond the following questions: Can the child explain why he or she is carrying out an activity in a certain way? What can the child do alone, compared with prompting? This is also very important for identifying able children who are doing work well below that of which they are capable. What can the child do already on his or her own? (Teaching should extend not duplicate this.) Has the child retained earlier steps in learning? For example, a child who has difficulty in completing tens and units sums involving carrying might have forgotten the ‘base 10’ concept underlying the activity Can the child complete a given task in one context and transfer it to another context (e.g. add numbers using beads on a string and using a number line)? Can the child apply knowledge and skills in a new context (e.g. multiply numbers in a maths game and use multiplication facts to work out the numbers of rulers needed by groups of children in an art activity)? Advantages and disadvantages of observational approach There are both strengths and disadvantages in using structured, systematic observation schedules within a classroom. If the schedule is clearly structured and appropriate for the aims then it can supply useful information. It can show whether or not a teacher’s impression is justified; for example, that a particular child habitually concentrates much better on oral than on written activities, or that two children work more productively together than separately. However, a structured observation schedule may be difficult to use effectively. Children may interrupt or behave differently because they are aware of being monitored. The use of structured observation schedules also requires at least two adults to be present, one to carry out the observations and one to work with the class. Several detailed accounts of formal observational methods (for example, Croll 1996, Slee 1987, Sylva and Neill 2002, Wragg 1993) expand on their use in classrooms. Observational methods are useful ways in which teachers can build up judgements about individual children and the dynamics of the classroom. They may also point to features of the classroom which the teacher could improve, such as making certain types of resources more accessible or changing the location of some materials so that withdrawn children become more involved with other children. So far in this chapter, identifying the point reached by a child has focused on observations of children’s general development and behaviour. Observational methods need to be supplemented with assessments which focus on curricular tasks. The SEAC (2002) materials on teacher assessment provide many pointers for ways in which this can be done across the ability range. The next part of this chapter considers curriculum -based assessment in relation to children with difficulties in learning. Ethical issues The Ethical Principles for Conducting Research with Human Participants published by the British Psychological Society (1996) advises researchers to give informed consent to the participants. Therefore, a letter has to be sent to the teachers selected for the purposes of the study, along with the questionnaire, informing them briefly about the aim of the study, confidentiality and anonymity issues, and their right to participate in the study if they wanted to. Bibliography: 1. Alexander, R.J., Rose, J. and Woodhead, C. (1992) Curriculum Organisation and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools: A Discussion Paper, London: DES. 2. OFSTED (2001) Education for Disaffected Pupils, London: DFE. 3. Bell, G.H. and Colbeck, B. (1989) Experiencing Integration: The Sunnyside Action Enquiry Project, Lewes: Falmer. 4. Bell, G.H. and Colbeck, B. (1999) Experiencing Integration: The Sunnyside Action Enquiry Project, Lewes: Falmer. 5. Nuttall, D. and Goldstein, H. (1999) ‘Finely measured gains’, Times Educational Supplement, 27 October. 6. Thomas, G. (2002) Effective Classroom Teamwork: Support or Intrusion, London: Routledge. 7. Tizard, B., Blatchford, P., Burke, J., Farquar, C. and Plewis, I. (2002) Young Children at School in the Inner City, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 8. Bruce, T. (1997) Early Childhood Education, London: Hodder and Stoughton. 9. Croll, P. (1996) Systematic Classroom Observation, Lewes: Falmer 10. Slee, P.T. (2002) Child Observation Skills, London: Croom Helm. 11. Sylva, K. and Neill, S. (2002) ‘Assessing through direct observation’, Unit 2, Warwick University Early Years Team, Developing your Whole School Approach to Assessment Policy, Windsor: NFER-Nelson. 12. Wragg, E.C. (1993) An Introduction to Classroom Observation, London: Routledge. 13. SEAC (2002) A Guide to Teacher Assessment, Packs A, B and C, London: SEAC/Heinemann. Read More